Islam is more than just another religion next to Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or Judaism. Islam claims to be a way of life and governs the lives of more than 1 billion people. That is, one of every five people in the world is a Muslim. Moreover, the human potential is Islam skyrocketed with then Soviet Union broke up and a number of Soviet republics in the south began to view themselves as Islamic states.

As we mentioned earlier, Islam is growing and widening its influence on the social, religious and political map. Islam makes up approximately 2.5% of the U.S. population. This number is increasing more than other minorities for three reasons. First, more immigrants from Muslim countries arrive each year. Second, Muslims rarely practice birth control. Third, more than 32 thousand U.S. citizens convert to Islam each year from other religions.

Evidently, Islam is here to stay. However, let us not see Muslims as an opposition, but rather as an opportunity for evangelism. Historically, the Christian Church has fought bitter and bloody wars against Muslims, but made meager efforts to present the authentic message of God's grace to them.

We can s ay of Muslims what Paul said to the Jews: "They have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2). Most Muslims have had little chance to believe, because they have heard and seen so little of the Gospel. That is not their fault, but to some degree it is ours. Our evangelism must include Muslims. Our Lord Jesus died for them too! After all, we must be encouraged that more Muslims have come to Christ during the past few decades than in all the years since the beginning of Islam around 600 AD. What is even more encouraging is that today the Lord is uprooting many Muslims from their hard soil and replanting them in more fertile land. Let us grasp the opportunity and reach this new mission field that has come to us.